Kovalchuk, Tkachuk lift Thrashers past Panthers

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Ilya Kovalchuk again came through to help
the Atlanta Thrashers continue their dominance of the Florida
Panthers.

Kovalchuk snapped a third-period tie and and Keith Tkachuk
scored twice as the Thrashers defeated the Panthers for the
sixth time in as many meetings this season with a 4-2 triumph.

Atlanta has won all seven home games over Florida in the past
two seasons and posted their 14th victory in 20 overall
encounters. The Thrashers (35-23-10) took a two-point lead over
the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Southeast
Division.

"We beat a good hockey club tonight," Thrashers coach Bob
Hartley said. "They are skating well and making a push for the
playoffs. They are playing well and gave us all we can handle."

"They have a lot of good young players over there," Tkachuk
said. "They are a young team with nothing to lose. We found a
way to win. It's that time of year where you have to grind it
out. It's a great feeling right now."

After netting the clinching goal in Sunday's win over the
Carolina Hurricanes, Kovalchuk broke a 2-2 tie with 6:24
remaining with his 35th goal of the season from the doorstep by
goaltender Ed Belfour's right pad.

"(Kovalchuk) is a talented kid," Tkachuk said. "He's a fun guy
to play with, and he (has) a knack for scoring. You try to get
him the puck as much as possible."

"I tried to stuff it the first time and then it just bounced
back to my stick," Florida right wing Scott Mellanby said. "I
was trying to stuff it in the side and I think Belfour got a
skate on it and it squirted right to (Kovalchuk). I'd like to
say I saw him there but I was just trying to jam it. It was a
lucky bounce."

Acquired from the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, Tkachuk scored his
first two goals with Atlanta and raised his season total to 22
to help the Thrashers win their fourth straight contest.

"It was nice to contribute," Tkachuk said. "You just have to
stick with it. You can't rely on (Marian) Hossa to score all
the goals. You need everybody chipping in and finally as a
line, we clicked."

"When we acquired Keith, we knew he was a great player and
veteran, but he has an unbelievable presence at the net,"
Hartley said of Tkachuk. "He is strong, smart and knows how to
position himself."

Juraj Kolnik tied the score, 2-2, at 7:55 of the third period
with a slap shot from the slot that found the gap between
goaltender Kari Lehtonen's pads. It was his ninth tally of the
season.

Hossa snapped a 1-1 tie on a power play at 3:01 of the third
period by shooting Alexei Zhitnik's setup pass from the slot
inside the left goalpost for his 39th goal, which tied last
season's mark.

Kovalchuk and Mellanby registered two assists each and Lehtonen
made 38 saves for Atlanta.

"I think we're pretty confident now," said Lehtonen, who is
29-19-8 this season. "It's good to have everybody playing
well."

Stephen Weiss netted his 17th tally and Belfour stopped 25 shots
for the Panthers, who had their four-game winning streak ended.

"It's just one of those things in hockey," Weiss said. "We've
had a tough time here. We competed hard but we just made it
really hard on ourselves. I'm still proud of the guys. We hung
in there and battled, but at the same time we know we have to
be better."

"Our best period was the first," Florida coach Jacques Martin
said. "When the game was on the line, they scored on the
breakaway and we didn't. We had a chance in the second period
but didn't score."